Pediatric Coding Alert

Although CMS originally withheld RVUs for this code, you'll now find an update.If your Medicaid provider is sending back your developmental screening claims and marking them "denied," there's a powerful new tool that can help you fight those zero-reimbursement situations.Issue Lies in Testing vs. Screening DifferenceAlthough most annual CPT® updates have the potential to help your practice substantially, others can threaten to bring your income to a halt. Unfortunately, that's been the case for scores of pediatric practices that have been stymied by the recent adjustment to the developmental screening code 96110 (Developmental screening, with interpretation and report, per standardized instrument form).Because this code was previously referred to as a developmental "testing" code, reimbursement was never an issue for it. However, since many Medicaid payers don't pay for "screening," some practices had to fight their payers for hours over the denial of these services. To quell this issue, CMS released [...]